Leslie Elton

(27 August 1893 - 16 July 1966, USA)

Jack Daw's Adventures

Leslie Elton was born Leslie Elton Brownley in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. He was a (sports) cartoonist with the Philadelphia Record, Public Ledger, Motion Picture Magazine, Photoplay Journal and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. By 1916 he moved to animation, when he found employment with the Paramount-Bray Studio. There, he worked on projects like the 'Heeza Liar' series, and also served as a cartoonist for the Cameragraph Film Company. He wrote, directed and animated the cartoon series 'The Whozit Weekly' for Universal between 1918 and 1920. Bot his sisters were motion picture actresses.

He began his newspaper feature 'Jack Daw's Adventures' for Newspaper Enterprise Association Service in July 1922. It was one of the first syndicated adventure strips featuring a continuing character. Elton got assistance from Hal Cochran as scriptwriter in October of that year, and worked on the art of the strip until March 1923. The feature was later drawn by Lee Wright (1923-1924) and Lawrence W. Redner (1924-1926). Elton eventually moved to California, where he passed away in Los Angeles on 16 July 1966.